A Reason, A Season, or a Lifetime: Quitting Our Jobs, Selling Everything and Hitting the Road

Monday, June 18, 2018

The freedom of our lifestyle continually has us pose the same questions we all consider. How confining is FREEEDOM? Kathy's college teacher once said, "A free man will spend his entire life trying to give his freedom up." She vividly remembers that quote as we make our decisions about where we go on our journey.

When I decided no more cold winters, Kathy asked her boss if they had a need for her services further south. I located a volunteer gig for us at Tonto National Forest near Mesa, AZ. Her boss said super! We left Bellingham for good.

We decided to take the long route and enjoy the scenery in our transition. Time to tick off a few more National Parks along the way. Mount Rainier, previously only seen by plane welcomed us near the end of the season, which such empty campgrounds and road construction.

Beyond the beauty of this snow-covered volcano the views are eternal enchantment.

We arrived before the Visitor's Center even opened so a very friendly Ranger snuck us in so Kathy could get her Passport stamp. We have to go back and check out the museum some other time.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Bellingham Washington has around 3,000 more females than males....well now it's 3002!

More importantly, Bellingham the county seat of Whatcom County has more drive thru coffee stands per capita than any other county in the country. It is also a political dichotomy; besides the longest running weekly peace vigil in the world, it also was the only county in Washington state to hold a rally for Trump's presidential campaign.

For us Bellingham quickly became home. We started our volunteer gig at our new address, got jobs, changed our residency to Washington state, applied for health insurance, and began exploring the area. We enjoyed the trails on Mt. Baker, enjoyed the state parks for camping, and the rural roads for exploring! With new income and no rent, we bought a second car and eventually a Honda Silverwing. We got caught up on RV maintenance with the help of our friend and personal RV tech, Jim. This included him building a customized motorcycle carrier for the back of our RV.

We watched the seasons change and grew our friendships with the locals. We became ingrained in the community and thought a lot about making Bellingham our permanent home. But we weren't quite ready to stop so we figured out a way for Kathy to keep her full-time contract job and headed south after surviving one of Bellingham's worse winters on record.